The International Criminal Court (ICC) is pursuing arrest warrants for Taliban officials accused of gender-based crimes as the group intensifies its crackdown on women's rights in Afghanistan. The ICC prosecutor's office announced on Thursday that there are grounds to believe that Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani are criminally responsible for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds.
While the ICC lacks its own enforcement mechanism, it relies on signatory countries for arrests. Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, women and girls have faced severe restrictions, effectively erasing them from public life.
